Years earlier, she taught music at Miles Elementary and Webb Middle School.

"If you can give to a kid, you get back the world," she said in 2002.

A Juilliard-trained pianist, Scialdo studied extensively in Italy and Russia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, she went to Russia as a guest of the government.

She moved to north Hillsborough in 1999 and was a driving force behind fine arts programs in her community. Among other things, she directed and led the musical accompaniment for the cultural center's annual summer musical.

Diagnosed in 2010 with cancer, she died at 67, just weeks before opening night of The Music Man.

Next month, the cultural center at 4537 Lowell Road will dedicate its main performance stage in Scialdo's memory. The ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 10 at 5 p.m. before the opening performance of Neil Simon's Come Blow Your Horn at 8. The production will mark the first for the MAS Community Theatre, named after Scialdo.

"Mary Ann was the heart of the center," said executive director Paul Berg. "I can't think of a more fitting tribute than to name the stage after her because that is where she and so many of her students performed."